CVS Rolls Out New Mobile Rx Pickup Service

Daily pharmacy operations often rely on the safe and accurate delivery of medications to patients.

The last step for many patients picking up their medications include a verification of the name, DOB, address, and signature at the pharmacy counter. While this is not a very arduous process, many technicians and pharmacists have heard patients’ disdain for this endeavor.

Some pharmacy chains have started to streamline this process. For instance, CVS just rolled out a mobile prescription pickup service that is incorporated into its current mobile app.

This new feature released in the app’s latest update allows patients to hand their phone over to pharmacy staff to scan to confirm that they are the right patient, and then sign off on their prescription through the app.

This process can be accomplished at not only the pharmacy counter, but also the drive-thru by sharing a code instead of a barcode. It aims to reduce the length of the patient verification process at pickup.

The service will alert the pharmacy staff to what prescriptions the patient is there to pick up, so hopefully nothing is forgotten. It also incorporates the patient’s CVS member card, if applicable.

While this is not necessarily a revolutionary step in the pharmacy world, it is nice to see that companies are looking for ways to improve the patient experience by leveraging devices that many have grown accustomed to use.

It remains to be seen whether this service also helps out pharmacy staff, but pharmacists should look forward to seeing what other new developments come about in the future.